A ravenous reader blogs on all things bookish

Post navigation

Bookish Boys

One of the things I was most worried about when I learned my baby was a boy was that he wouldn’t love books like his mother.

Well, no worries there. I was extremely blessed to have a bookish boy right from birth. I have no idea if it’s because I spent virtually all nine months of my pregnancy with my nose buried in a book of one sort or another, or more likely because I started reading to him before he could even sit up. If I’d known then what I know now (that babies can hear quite well in utero and can actually recognize their parents voices), I would have been reading aloud to him when he was in the womb.

It didn’t take long for my son to love being read to. During his first full winter (making him about 10-14 months of age), we kept a stack of about 10 picture books on the living room table, and each afternoon when he awoke from his nap, we’d sit on the floor and read through every one. Of course, with a child that age, each book has it’s own ritual. You can’t just read the words, you have to ask the pertinent questions, and wait for the answer. “What does the owl say?” “What can the little engine do?” “Where’s the man in the moon?” Once we got through the entire bookstack, he would happily pick them all, plop them down in front of me, and say “Again!”

Yes indeed.

One of the grandmotherly duties I’m anticipating most eagerly is story time. Today, we learned (via the miracle of sonography) that our grandchild is a boy, so I’ve been poking around in the basement looking for my son’s favorite picture books, anticipating another little ravenous reader in the family in about four more months.

Like this:

Related

12 thoughts on “Bookish Boys”

My mom saved so many of the Little Golden Books from my childhood and passed them on to me when I had Baby Anne. It was one of the best presents EVER! As I read those books to my little girl I sometimes have the strangest flashbacks to a time of feeling completely loved and completely captivated by the pictures the words painted for me.

Congrats on your new grandson! Little boys are so sweet…I want one myself (someday!)

Many congratulations! It’s hugely exciting when you find out about your new grandchild whatever the sex! Our grandson William and his twin Isabella are almost 7 months (big sister Amelia is 3) so I am looking out his dad and uncle’s books, not to mention Thomas the Tank Engine!
I don’t know if you have them in the USA, but all of mine loved Shirley Hughes’ Alfie books, along with a gorgeous set of little books that she wrote for toddlers with rhymes that my daughter can still recite despite being 17!

A grandson! What a joy! I bet in so many ways he’ll remind you of your own son. I hope this day comes for me sometime in the future (quite some time away, as my boy is an unmarried 20 year old!). How fun that you saved those picture books. I’m sure my mother saved ours; I know I have a quite tattered set of Narnia and Beatrix Potter. But, I remember the hours and hours my brother and I poured over Richard Scarry, and my husband remembers his Little Golden Books with great fondness.

Getting books for your grandchild, what fun! We have quite a collection of Berenstain Bears books too, and too many others to list. Toddler favourites were Pat the Bunny, One thumb one thumb (monkeys drumming on a drum), Go dogs Go, and everything Dr. Seuss.

Congrats on the good news and the blessings that a new grandbaby brings! I’m so glad to see such a great Bernstein Bears collection – some of my absolute favorites growing up! I know I was worried about my nephew not being a reader like his mom, aunt, and granny, but we also dodged a bullet and got a boy who likes reading comic books, if nothing else – and reading is reading! Again, congrats, and it’s so good to know another reader will soon be joining the ranks.

Oh isn’t that lovely news! I read to my son for hours and hours when he was a child although he’s not in a reading patch at the moment. He loved Thomas the Tank Engine when he was little, and the Mick Inkpen ‘Kipper’ books. We read Shirley Hughes’ Alfie, too. Oh and the Hairy Maclary books were hilarious. But really, there are so many gorgeous children’s books out there, you’ll be spoilt for choice!